How to Align Your Business Strategy with the Right Tech Leadership

As our businesses become more technologically advanced, it’s no surprise that progress comes with a certain amount of redundancy and inefficiencies. On the one hand, we have unlimited quantities of data and the help of AI programs to interpret it.

On the other hand, many companies still struggle with implementing and integrating their technology effectively. Why? Simple reason: most of us know we need technology, but we don’t know which technologies.

The demand might be common, but the products are niche and esoteric. Let’s take a look at how business owners can make sure that their company is on the right side of the technological divide.

Common Pain Points

There are certain common areas where many business owners struggle. The common denominator behind these considerations is that owners don’t always understand that they’re getting something wrong. They just know that the job feels more frustrating than they think it should.

Too Many Touch Points

We live in an age of automation. Often, business owners develop systems that either exclude digital technology from the process or at least underutilize it. This happens for one of several reasons. Either when they began their business, the technology didn’t exist yet, or they couldn’t afford tools that would make their lives simpler.

As a business grows, however, processes that were once manual no longer scale. For example, consider a software company that previously handled all of its billing through manual, high-touch processes. When the company had twenty clients, it wasn’t much work to get invoices sent out at the end of the month. It was something that could be handled in an hour or two.

But now, maybe with 600 clients, invoicing takes a few days out of every month. An automated billing platform can literally save the company hundreds of billable hours throughout the financial year.

The problem? The business owner has never even heard of them. Or at the very least, they don’t know how to shop around for one. If businesses aren’t regularly reviewing their systems to look for where automation can do some or all of the lifting, chances are they’re being inefficient.

The Company Has the Tools, But No One Knows How to Use Them

Another issue: developing a robust tech stack is great, but it’s only supposed to be effective if everyone knows how to use them well. This is something that can take weeks or even months to establish, and this is particularly difficult when the business owner themselves has only a modest understanding of what is required.

This is understandable. After all, a founder doesn’t necessarily know everything about accounting or sales and marketing. They hire people for those things. They similarly don’t necessarily understand what tools are best for each department. Consequently, it’s difficult to advise on the unveiling of the tech stack.

Many organizations find that they pay for tools they can’t get their employees to use, resulting in both inefficiencies and wasted money on tech spend. For a digital transformation to be truly effective, it has to come from the top down. This means practicing what you preach and prioritizing digital tools and automation wherever possible.

It also means allowing your staff the opportunity to adjust to this technology in a context that is as stress-free as possible. Schedule multiple trainings throughout the first few months to ensure everyone is learning in a comfortable environment.

You Have Your Tools, People Are Using Them, But the Software Doesn’t Get Along

Okay, now let’s say that the business owner has truly done everything right. They’ve learned what things can be automated or at least expedited through technology. They’ve invested in the tools. They’ve committed to training their staff how to use them properly.

And yet, even still, data is slipping through the cracks, and departments are having a hard time interacting. This experience is known by many in the tech industry as data siloing. It means that a company has a robust tech stack, but the tools don’t integrate well.

Ideally, as you’re building your company’s tech stack, you look not just at individual tools that accomplish what you need, but also at options that could work seamlessly with one another, sharing data and optimizing systems and processes with minimal gaps.

Large companies might develop custom-made tools specifically with this purpose in mind. But smaller organizations that are buying products essentially off the shelf can still find well-rounded tools that work well together.

What Is the Solution?

We’ve described over the preceding paragraphs several basic ways to implement new technologies successfully. Committing to the process, giving it time, and certainly giving it money are all important. But realistically, it’s important to understand that proper implementation requires a set of skills that you might not have in-house.

In that case, you may need to hire out for extra help. Technology management professionals or information systems managers can be an excellent resource.

Often, they aren’t even people you need to hire on full-time. In many cases, they work as consultants helping you pick the right tools for your business and troubleshoot common problems that you’re experiencing.

This could involve helping you to develop systems, identifying areas where you can accelerate workloads through automation, and even conducting training sessions for your existing staff. Now you might be thinking, all this sounds great–and expensive.

That’s true.

Part of deciding on a digital transformation is also identifying what the return will be. In many cases, you’re paying short-term for long-term results. A good tech stack will make scaling much more effortless.

Back to that software company mentioned in an earlier heading. Their billing department could have had one of two responses to its increasing invoicing needs. One, the department could keep growing exponentially until a really mature software company, the size of Netflix, would require maybe thousands of billing professionals sending manual invoices each and every month.

Or the second option: the company could maintain its five or six billing professionals and allow automation to help them accomplish the same results, regardless of how large the clientele becomes. That’s the superpower of good technology. It’s not about replacing people. It’s about growing smoothly with minimal stress.

Hiring a professional to help you set in motion a tech-heavy plan that can help you with the next fifteen years of scaling is well worth the investment.

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

One of the things about technology and business is that you’re never exactly finished with it. Tools will change. Processes will change. Objectives will change. Obviously, a tech stack that doesn’t account for AI isn’t up to date, and yet that’s a development that really only took place two years ago.

The good news is that most software evolves automatically over time and without any particular effort on your part. Yes, when a major update takes place, you might need to reinvest in training. But the initial discomfort is primarily temporary.

You spend two months training your staff on a tool. They learn it. They use it with minimal issues. You will still need to keep your eye out for new features, better prices, and new ways to do more work with less effort.

But for the most part, success in tech and business is about embracing digital tools and prioritizing efficiency and optimization.